अहङ्कारघने शान्ते तृष्णा नवतडिल्लता । शान्तदीपशिखावृत्त्या क्वाऽपि यात्यतिसत्वरम् ॥ १३ ॥
ahaṅkāraghanē śāntē tṛṣṇā navataḍillatā | śāntadīpaśikhāvṛttyā kvā’pi yātyatisatvaram || 13 ||
Translation
When the cloud of the ego is stilled, craving, the fresh streak of lightning, goes off somewhere, very quickly, like the flame of a lamp that has gone out.
Word by word
- ahaṅkāra
- of the ego
- ghanē
- the cloud
- śāntē
- when is stilled
- tṛṣṇā
- craving
- nava
- the fresh
- taḍit
- of lightning
- latā
- streak
- śānta
- that has gone out
- dīpa
- of a lamp
- śikhā
- the flame
- vṛttyā
- like
- kva
- off
- api
- somewhere
- yāti
- goes
- ati
- very
- satvaram
- quickly
Meaning
The same image from the other side. Lightning lives in the cloud; when the cloud disperses, the lightning is simply gone. Craving is a "fresh creeper of lightning" (nava-taḍil-latā), bright and sudden. It does not need to be fought down one flash at a time: when the ego is stilled, craving goes "somewhere" (kvāpi), no one can say where, as a lamp flame that goes out does not go anywhere. The reader is shown a different way of working with desire: not by suppressing it, but by quieting the "I" from which it flashes.